I Can Do Better
by Kael-bail
Summary: Written for lj's kinkmeme. AU, genderbend FemCanada. Madilyn Williams loves hockey, and will go to extremes to get on the boys team.


Madilyn Williams had been raised in Canada, and despite her clumsy nature on land, she had always been graceful on the ice. She spent elementary school doing ice skating competitions, winning at an extraordinary rate. Part way though Junior High, she decided she wanted to play hockey with some of the neighborhood kids.

"Mon cheri, why would you want to play 'ockey?" Her father asked, baffled by the notion. "You are a klutz."

"But Papa! I love the ice, and I want to prove I'm good at something other than being…well, a girl!"

Her father agreed after many months, and got her involved in a local team.

By the time high school came along, Madilyn and her father had moved to Washington state. And needless to say, Madilyn wasn't happy.

"Why couldn't we just have stayed in British Columbia!" Madilyn screamed, throwing down another box that she had hauled into the kitchen. "At least there I would have fit in!"

"Darling you needed a change of pace…" Her father cooed, trying to reason with her. "Living somewhere new…it is not a bad thing!" He moved over to her, placing hands on her shoulders. "Mon cheri…you will grow to like it 'ere, but only if you let yourself."

She sniffed, looking away. "Does anyone even play hockey here?"

"Oui."

"…okay…"

Madilyn was, needless to say, shy. She saw kids playing roller hockey in the nearby park, but was too scared ask if she could join; besides, it's different than ice. After a few weeks of school, during which she felt more and more distant from her classmates, she got the courage to ask the principal if she could attempt to create a girl's hockey team.

"Only if you can manage to pull a team together before the season officially starts."

That being decided, Madilyn spent days making flyers advertising her sports event in hopes at least enough girls would join her cause. Even her father seemed proud of her in her efforts.

Of course, Madilyn had hoped for too much. By the time she was to check out the girls who had signed up, she was disappointed. Two had signed up to be cheerleaders. Two others had never even heard of the sport and just wanted to see what it was. The only one who had been serious about it had been Madilyn herself.

Feeling defeated, she went where she knew the boy's team was practicing, deciding to just sit in the stands, watching pathetically. Her heart began to ache as she watched them practice. She subconsciously found herself strategizing, correcting their practice and deciding what would have been a better move than what they made.

"Eet ees not often we find a girl watching. You like hockey, da?"

Madilyn jumped, looking up to her side. He was tall, maybe close to 6 foot, with pale hair and violet eyes. He was carrying a hockey stick, but wasn't in the pads. While he intimidated her, he was smiling softly. She swallowed hard and stood up. "A-ah. Yes. I grew up in Canada and played recreational hockey in Junior high."

"I thought you had an accent," he replied. "Not as theek as mine, but an accent anyway."

She giggled lightly. "No doubt, eh? So…where you from?" she gestured to the ice. "You on the team?"

"Ah, da." he smiled a bit. "Just late for practice." He held out one of his large hands. "I am Ivan Braginski. I transferred from Russia two years ago."

She took his hand. "Madilyn. Madilyn Williams."

"Zat ees a pretty name." As almost a second thought, he kissed her hand making her blush. "Perfect for a pretty girl, da?"

Madilyn blushed further; she opened her mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by someone on the ice. "Yo, Ivan! You're late again! You're our star player you can't do this to us!" they looked over to a rambunctious looking blond, glasses perched roughly on the bridge of his nose. "Get your commie butt out here!"

Madilyn noticed a slight twitch from the taller boy. "Da, be down in a moment, Alfred." As the blond turned away, Ivan muttered something in pure Russian; while she didn't understand, she could tell he wasn't happy. He turned back to her, smiling again. "Would you like to stay and watch?"

"Ah-I…n-no, thanks. I should…I should get home." She smiled a bit. "I should have been home a while ago probably…But uhm…thanks for the offer." She gave a shy wave. "I'll…see you later, Ivan."

"Do svidaniya, Madilyn."

The Canadian girl giggled softly, before turning on her heels and running out, her heart feeling lighter than it had felt in weeks.

* * *

Madilyn spent every day watching the boy's team practice, cheering with vigor whenever Ivan had the puck. And after practice, Ivan would take her out to ice cream, where they would discuss their cultures, and their infinite love of hockey. "You should try out for a team," Ivan mused, sipping at a soda. "You would have fun."

"I tried to get a girl's team together," she told him, poking at her sundae. "But no one even knows what hockey is, or what. It's frustrating…" After a moment of silence she put her spoon down. "I have an idea."

"Oh?"

"I'm going to try out for your guys' team."

Ivan stared at her for a few moments. "You…are you serious?"

"Completely."

Ivan chuckled low, raising a brow. "Eet ees…a BOYS team. You will not make eet."

She stood up, startling him slightly. "I will prove you wrong. I will prove ALL of you boys wrong."

"and…how do you plan you to do that?" Ivan inquired.

She smirked. "You'll see. I swear it."

* * *

Over the days that followed, Madilyn continued to come to practice, watching and plotting how she would get into the boys tryouts. After having confronted the head of the team, that Alfred guy, and having gotten laughed at right in her face, she decided she was going to need help. And so, one day, she waited outside the drama class for someone from her English class, and probably the only person who could help her pull it off.

"And so then I was like, these shoes are, like, $300! And I will shove these steel boots, like, nine feet up your ass, and you are, like, half that height!"

"Feliks!"

A blond-at first glance it looked female, but Madilyn knew better-turned sharply, hair whipping around his face in confusion. "Oh. My. Gosh~! Maddie~!" He frolicked to her side, hugging her. "How are you~? I haven't seen you in, like, forever!"

"You saw me in third period," she replied sheepishly, waving slightly at Feliks' companion, boyfriend and classmate, Toris. "Feliks, I need to ask for your help, and since your in drama and good with makeup and costuming, I think you're the only person who could help me."

Feliks gave a flip of his hair, smiling. "Like, I know. How can I help you?"

"I need help coming up with a disguise."

Both boys blinked at her. "A disguise?" Toris asked, pulling his longish brunet hair back in a low ponytail. "For what? You're not doing anything dangerous, are you?"

"Oh, please~" Feliks nuzzled on Madilyn's face. "Little Maddie-kins is, like, the most innocent girl EVAR."

Madilyn laughed nervously. "No, nothing too dangerous. I just need you guys to help me look more like a boy."

Feliks stared at her for a moment. "You're joking, right, Maddie?"

"No, I'm not."

Toris looked thoughtful. "Surely, there must be an explanation."

And so she told them the entire story, starting with her love of hockey, and ending with Alfred laughing in her face. "And so," She finished. "I decided I'm going to disguise myself as a guy, try out for the team, and show those jerks that a girl can play hockey just as well as any of them can. Maybe even better."

Toris looked like he was trying not to snicker, while Feliks seemed semi in awe. "Girl! We are going to give you that temporary makeover! And you are going to show them! Like, Girl power!"

* * *

Toris, Feliks and Madilyn spent the next few days in the drama room after school, perfecting their male disguise, until they had it almost foolproof. "Okay, so like, are you gonna where a cami under all this?"

"Sure thing," Madilyn muttered, trying to deepen her voice a little. "Just so I can show those assholes what a real woman looks like." Feliks let out a whoop. Madilyn turned. "Do I look man enough?"

"Maddie baby, if you were a real guy, I'd like, totally date you."

Madilyn grinned. "Great! Wish me luck guys!" she yelled, running out of the room and to the hockey rink.

* * *

Practice had barely started when Madilyn wandered in. She had to take a deep breath to control her nerves; she had a mission to accomplish. "Yo!"

Alfred looked up from the ice, grinning like a regular idiot. He skated over to the side. "What up? Never seen you here."

'_seriously?_" she thought. "Name's Matthew." They shook hands. "Came to see if I could try out."

"Sure thing, kid! Probably won't make it cause we're like, the best, but hey, we're always looking for fresh meat!"

'_Phase one complete,_' She thought, smiling. As she put on her skates, she could feel someone's eyes on her. She glanced up, and noticed it was Ivan. He was giving her a critical look, almost like, 'I see what you did there'. She made sure no one was looking, and gave him a meek shrug. He shook his head and moved back onto the ice. Once she was set, she got up and entered the ice.

"Said your name was Matthew, right?" Alfred verified, handing her a stick.

"What? Oh, yeah," she replied, clearing her throat.

"You played before?"

"Loads."

Alfred grinned. "Then lets play a 3 on 1 game and show us what you got! Tino, Hal, Nikolai, you guys are up! As leader I gotta watch!" Three of the boys nodded. The palest moved his way to the goal, the other two moving to the center. Madilyn followed.

The smaller of the two blonds in the center smiled at her. "I'm Tino. I hope you get to join us."

"Me too," she muttered, exasperated.

"Think fast," the other muttered, before taking the puck and skating off. Madilyn huffed a bit, sprinting after him.

Alfred let out a low whistle. "He's fast, huh, Ivan?" Ivan gave a non commital noise, preferring to simply watch the girl-in-boys-clothing. "We could use a faster player…Holy crap she stole the puck from Niko!" Ivan knew, he had watched the move Madilyn had made; and it had been an impressive one. He made mental notes to himself as he watched her gracefully move on the ice, snatching the puck and passing both of the blonds before slamming an incredible goal. This repeated about 3 times, before Alfred finally decided 'Matthew' was a keeper. "You are IMPRESSIVE, man!"

"Thanks," the now breathless but happy Madilyn said, smiling.

"I think you made it!"

She tried not to scream in happiness. Instead, she shook Alfred's hand. "Oh, I was going to ask you something."

"shoot man!"

"Well, I know a girl who came to you, asking if she could try out, right?"

Alfred laughed loudly. "Yeah! That was a hoot. Girls don't play hockey! They get hurt too easy."

Madilyn felt a smirk tugging at her lips, and she thought she heard Ivan snort back a laugh. "Yeah, well, about that…" She turned her back to him, before stripping off the baggy clothing she had used to be 'Matthew', revealing her white cami and petite B's. She turned back around, to find Alfred's face in an "oh-shit" look. "Yeah well…I'm her. The name is Madilyn Williams. And I just kicked your ass."


End file.
